The Limited Says Infor Talent Science Has ‘Big Pay Off’

United States – July 07, 2014, 16:00 PM

'For The Limited, a national chain of women's apparel stores, retention is a constant challenge, especially at the sales associate level. The company has about 5,000 employees spread across several locations, including 260 retail stores across the U.S.,' writes Andrea Davis in a July 3 article in Employee Benefits News, headlined 'Hiring Managers Use Data Analytics to Increase Retention.'

Here's an excerpt:

'As the competition for talent remains tight, we continually evaluate our acquisition process to ensure we're selecting candidates that possess the skills and experience necessary to execute in their role but who will also be a match for our environment in the long term," says Tara Plazaran, manager of staffing, with The Limited in Columbus, Ohio.

'The Limited began using PeopleAnswers, owned by business software company Infor, a number of years ago to support its recruitment and retention efforts. The cloud-based talent science platform, developed by a team of PhDs in behavioral science, analyzes 39 behavioral traits for job candidates and produces what it calls a fit rating. Attributes include ambition, discipline, energy, acceptance of authority, attention to detail, flexibility, conscientiousness, and empathy, to name a few.

'The software categorizes candidates into four groups. At The Limited, candidates hired from the top two groups "turn over far less frequently than candidates in the bottom two recommendation categories," says Plazaran. "We are definitely seeing a correlation between recommended hires and retention."

'Pre-employment personality testing can be useful, but some caution it does slow down the recruiting process. … For The Limited, it's a modest trade off with a big pay-off.'